After years of pleas from the community, Tampa City Council voted 4-3 last week in favor of an ordinance allowing the Citizens Review Board (CRB) to hire its own outside legal counsel. The budget for the appointment is up to $100,000 and comes from the general fund.
Council members Lynn Hurtak, Bill Carlson, Luis Viera, and Orlando Gudes voted to approve the measure.
“This is something the people continuously tell us they want,” council member Lynn Hurtak said during the vote last Thursday. “It will help citizens build and develop trust that many say is lacking.”
Last July, Tampa City Council voted 5-1 to have the city’s legal team create an ordinance providing an outside attorney to the Citizens Review Board and subpoena power to obtain its own evidence. Mayor Jane Castor has opposed both changes to the CRB. In October, then-Tampa Police Chief Mary O’Connor (who resigned last December after she was caught on camera flashing her badge to escape a traffic violation,) met with city council members.
O’Connor urged council to oppose the expansion of CRB powers going to a public vote. Her work paid off, only days later city council voted 4-3 against giving citizens the right to vote on CRB subpoena power. Another measure for providing outside legal counsel passed 4-2 with Maniscalco and Citro voting against.
“It benefits everybody to have some additional level of objectivity,” council member Bill Carlson said from the dais during the April 6 city council meeting.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice continues its probe into the Tampa Police Department’s (TPD) “crime-free multi-housing program,” which targeted mainly Black renters for eviction. Last month, city council members agreed to access information about the investigation as long as they don’t disclose the information publicly.
This article appears in Apr 6-12, 2023.
